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Local leaders serve as gatekeepers<br />
Local leaders also featured as key gatekeepers and maps often describe a VEO or Ten Cell<br />
Leader as the second stop (after the family) on the path:<br />
It’s the same steps of the local government, that is where we start, because even at the<br />
police nowadays, they [let you] go straight there. A letter should be written for you by<br />
the chairperson, that so and so has been beaten.<br />
Female PFG participant (25+ years old), Iringa<br />
However, these leaders rarely have any GBV training. Hence, the quality of service provided<br />
is dependent on the individual leader. As described in Part III Section A, some leaders take<br />
it upon themselves to provide shelter for a survivor, whereas others provide little assistance<br />
or act as bottlenecks.<br />
Pathways depend on age<br />
After the maps were finalized, the facilitators probed to find out if and how the diagram<br />
might change if the survivor was young or old. Generally the men’s groups did not<br />
emphasize age-based differences, but several patterns emerged from the PFGs with women.<br />
Overall, older women were characterized as more reliant on traditional sources (e.g., elders<br />
and religious leaders) whose support was frequently characterized by an emphasis on<br />
maintaining silence and “enduring.”<br />
But if the mother is 60 years old, she cannot go to the police. She will be afraid because<br />
she will be humiliating herself. Perhaps she has children and grandchildren. Directly she<br />
will use traditional ways of calling elders, people of the same peer group, or use religious<br />
leaders to solve the couple’s problems.<br />
Female PFG participant (25 + years old), Iringa<br />
But for a woman who is 60 years old, she is already old. She does not see any reason to<br />
complain that she has experienced something bad from a husband, because even people<br />
will be surprised as she has lived with her husband for a long time. It is like she is<br />
degrading herself, therefore, she will decide to keep silent because of her age.<br />
Female PFG participant (18-24 years old), Iringa<br />
For a woman who is 17 years old, [she] will follow the whole process—she will go to<br />
parents, to close relatives, to friends, to the police up to the court… but for a woman<br />
who is 60 years old it is rare [for her to seek help through various channels].<br />
Male PFG Participant (18-24years old), Mbeya<br />
Sometimes after a woman gets beaten by husband, she can go to the elders who will tell<br />
her to endure. An elder may advise her, “If you have been beaten just take it easy.” It is<br />
rare to tell her to go and report to the police. They [elders] are most likely to say<br />
endure.<br />
Duty bearer, Dar es Salaam<br />
Help-Seeking Pathways and Barriers for Survivors of GBV in Tanzania March 2013<br />
Page 35